Alito frustrated by focus on Catholic justices
Speaking to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia on Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito voiced frustration over what he called persistent questions about the court's Roman Catholic majority, the Associated Press is reporting.
"There has been so much talk lately about the number of Catholics serving on the Supreme Court," Alito, one of six Catholics on the high court, said in a speech to the Justinian Society. "This is one of those questions that does not die."
Alito complained about "respectable people who have seriously raised the questions in serious publications about whether these individuals could be trusted to do their jobs." He said he thought the Constitution settled the question long ago with its guarantee of religious freedom.
The confirmation of Sonya Sotomayor has created a two-thirds majority of Catholics on the high court, an unprecedented concentration for a bench that has had only a dozen Catholic justices in its history. The other Catholics now serving are Chief Justice John Roberts, Antthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
As the AP notes, the Catholic Church endorses positions on several high-profile legal issues, including abortion, gay marriage and the death penalty (it opposes the first two, and effectively opposes the third).
Notre Dame law professor Richard W. Garnett said the religion of qualified justices will not determine their views of pending cases, even if their experiences might shade it.
"It's not the calling of a Catholic judge to enforce the teachings of the faith,” he told the AP. “It's the calling of a Catholic judge, as well as he or she can, to interpret and apply the laws of the political community.”
Comments
Alito was also frustrated last week when what almost everyone else seems to understand (that a crucifix is a Christian symbol on a grave and not applied to the graves of other religions) conflicted with his world view.
It seems to me that Alito (and many regular posters here) has a far too narrow view in far too many areas.
Posted by: MrRational | October 21, 2009 11:26 AM
Sadly, Nativism does still arise whenever a practicing Catholic politician is elected to a prominent position in this country. It was prominent in Kennedy's time and still is now, despite the fact that I know of not one Catholic dogma that has become law in this land. There is no law requiring Americans to venerate the Virgin Mary or accept the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. The Catholic positions on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and the death penalty are not dogma as much as they are ethical teachings based on natural law, which is not exclusive to Catholicism or religion in any way. Of course, it is easier for an opponent of the Church to call its anti-abortion stance a matter of "religious dogma" as opposed to a matter of natural, secular ethical reasoning because it frames the debate as a Church vs. State issue, which it is not.
Posted by: John | October 21, 2009 3:30 PM
John - It is understandable why religion, especially the Catholic Church and the fanatic Bible Nazis, in the fundamentalist protestant sub cults, are all trying to give legs to the falsehood that the anti-choice movement is not religious. The religious argument runs right up against the separation principle of the Establishment clause of The Constitution, which makes it a no win when it hits the Supreme Court, unless the Court itself can be corrupted. How does one corrupt a court where you want to have a ruling in your favor that can be worded to hide the religious agenda? Pack the court and hope for the best. It is the fear that the court might act on the imperatives of people who subscribe to any particular religious doctrine that is of concern. What if the majority of the court was Pentecostal, or Muslim, you would be screaming bloody murder.
Posted by: Robert Littel | October 21, 2009 4:52 PM
No one packed the court for any reason. For anyone to even hint at it is nothing but nonsense. What you ignore is that the Catholic Church never lobbied for any of the current justices. You can blame President Obama for the latest one as it was his selection. He’s hardly a favorite among Catholics. There is no evidence to support the notion that any of the justices has ever while in any position acted on anything other than the law.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 21, 2009 5:06 PM
Fake Anonymous - The Right-wing has been trying to get Constitution crushing justices appointed specifically to kill freedom of choice. The corporations packed the court just like they bought both houses of Congress. Why do you think corporate interests always win before the court?
Posted by: Robert Littel | October 21, 2009 8:06 PM
Bobbie – And the Left has been trying to do the opposite haven’t they? In fact it was the left who seemed to make Roe v Wade the litmus test for qualifications for confirmation to protect their view on the abortion issue. Are you honestly saying that organizations like Planned Parenthood and Moveon.org don’t work as hard for their viewpoints? Could you provide some evidence to support you claim on corporate interests? You are aware that Trial Lawyers and organized Labor are among the two most powerful lobbying and PACs? Save the rhetoric for your liberal action group meetings. The only victims in this struggle are the truth and those in the middle.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 22, 2009 11:28 AM